'Arrestingly good prose - A thought-provoking novel that wrestles with the fundamentals of human nature.' Financial Times 'The plot, which flies past at genuine 'page turner' pace, involves a race to map the (fictional) Lorenzo Circuit, 'the deep root-system of the self - the basis of memory, emotion and consciousness in the human brain' - Fernyhough may have ended my face-off with fiction, as I realised - that [science and fiction] need not be mutually exclusive. We can, of course, learn about our world while our head's in an imagined one, just as our experience informs our writing. 'Stories are truth', he writes. 'Stories are the truest truth'. I'm grateful for the siren warnings from the storytelling machine that is Charles Fernyhough.' The Psychologist 'A pleasantly sardonic narrator - There is - a certain edgy propulsion to the story, and the reveal of what is really going on in the bowels of Sansom's research centre is deliciously horrible and deftly understated.' Guardian 'Part love story, part race against time to beat the baddies, Fernyhough can certainly write.' Daily Mail "This is both a novel of ideas and a pacey thriller. Exhilarating, thought-provoking and well worth the wait." - Andrew Crumey "A thrilling plot and wonderfully constructed characters - a serious novel and a great read." - Sara Maitland